Simulating the Packing of Adhesive Cementitious Microparticles Considering Surface Forces and Friction
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Concrete is the most widely used material worldwide. Due to its vast production volume, concrete has the highest global warming potential (GWP) among building materials. The primary source of greenhouse gas emissions is Portland cement, which serves as the binding material in concrete. Consequently, current research focuses on substituting or reducing Portland cement content without compromising mechanical performance and durability. One effective approach to lower the Portland cement content is to increase the packing density of the concrete mixture, thereby reducing porosity and water demand. When particle interactions are dominated by gravitational forces, geometric packing models are available that describe the particle packing in good agreement with experimental data. However, when fine powders such as cement, limestone filler, or quartz powder are incorporated, gravitational forces become less significant. Instead, surface-related forces and interparticle friction become dominant and disrupt the natural geometric arrangement of the particles. These surface-related forces, namely van der Waals and electrostatic double-layer forces, are highly complex and depend not only on particle-specific properties but also on the ionic strength of the pore solution.\\ Therefore, this study presents analytical models for relevant surface-related and friction forces in combination with a contact model to simulate the packing behavior of cementitious microparticles. The proposed models are implemented in discrete particle simulations using MercuryDPM. In addition, a parameter study covering realistic material properties for cementitious systems is conducted to assess their influence on the resulting packing structure.
